A couple years ago, Starbucks rolled out a popular SMS application. Users could text their zip code to MYSBUX and they would get back the closest Starbucks location. Google has an SMS service that lets you text in to GOOGLE and get back weather, directions, sports scores and more.

Mobile Commons has a similar application that our customers use to make their own SMS lookup services. Organizations can quickly create a service that users can text to and get back information quickly. For example, text ‘FISH SALMON’ 30644 and you’ll get a response letting you know if there are any health or environmental concerns with it (courtesy of Blue Ocean Institute). Text SHOP and the name of a company to 30644 to find out if they are LGBT friendly (courtesy of HRC).

We often get requests to make services based on location; in other words, a private-label Starbucks locator. Some organizations have faked it by uploading a database of zip codes. This works great but takes a lot of work and doesn’t handle people texting in their address. As we mentioned a couple days ago, we’ve been working hard integrating location information into everything we do. Today we are very excited to announce that we have added automatic location information to our SMS database applications.

How does it work? First, you upload your database as a spreadsheet with two columns: input and output. Check the box that says “Treat inputs as geographic locations”. That’s it!

Now you can instruct people to text your keyword plus their address. We automatically find the closest geographic match and text it to you. They can text in their full address, city, zip code – it doesn’t matter. We can handle it all.

This is best illustrated with an example. Let’s create a service to find the closest Mobile Commons office via SMS. Here’s our sample CSV file:

"input","output"
"86 Chambers St, New York NY 10007","The closest Mobile Commons office is at 86 Chambers St, New York NY 10007"
"100 Bush St, San Francisco CA 94104","The closest Mobile Commons office is at 100 Bush St, San Francisco CA 94104"


I copy-and-pasted the above text into our application and hit “Save”. Finally, I chose the keyword “mcommons” and added a default response.

Try it! Text MCOMMONS and your address to 30644 and we’ll reply with our closest office.

Now imagine you’re a retail business and you want to build a store locator. Easy! Just upload a spreadsheet of your store addresses in one column and your contact information in the other. We automatically take care of the rest. Want to advertise local events, rallies, or house parties. No problem!

It’s a “Starbucks Locator” for the rest of us!